Bearish bets on ECL have fallen 10% over the past month. Cost to borrow climbed 20% in the past week while options put demand spiked to a 52-week relative high.
Short interest stands at 2.84 million shares as of April 23, representing 1.0% of the free float. That marks a 10% decline over the past month and an 8% drop in the past week. Days to cover sits at 2.79. Cost to borrow is 0.56%, up 20% in the past week. Utilization has fallen sharply to 0.24%, down from a 52-week high of 1.44% hit in mid-March. Shares available to borrow are plentiful and shorts have reduced exposure into the print.
The put/call ratio hit 0.70 on April 24. That sits 1.67 standard deviations above the 20-day mean of 0.41. The ratio is near the top of its 52-week range of 0.22 to 1.44. Options traders have tilted heavily toward puts in recent sessions, a marked shift from the call-heavy positioning seen through late March.
Analyst count data is unavailable, but the mean price target is $319, implying meaningful upside from the $269 close. B of A Securities raised its target to $345 from $337 on April 21, maintaining a Buy rating. Citigroup lowered its target to $330 from $345 on April 13 but kept a Buy. UBS cut to $293 from $312 on April 9, holding at Neutral. JP Morgan upgraded to Overweight from Neutral on March 24, keeping the $295 target. Baird and Wells Fargo both trimmed targets in late March. Post-Q4 upgrades from Jefferies ($352), BNP Paribas ($345), and BMO Capital ($345) followed the February print.
Benzinga's bull case notes management's target of 100–150 basis points of annual margin expansion through 2030 and 25% year-over-year Digital revenue growth. The bear case highlights sequential volume deceleration rounding to 1%, EPS estimate cuts for Q4 2025 and 2026, and risks from raw material cost spikes and execution challenges.
The P/E ratio is 30.7, up 0.1 over the past month. The P/B ratio of 6.74 fell 0.13 in the same window. EV/EBITDA stands at 18.8, down 0.07 over 30 days. On factor scores, ECL ranks in the 91st percentile on 12-month forward EPS growth and the 99th percentile on analyst recommendation difference. EPS momentum ranks at the 43rd percentile over 30 days and 46th over 90 days.
Insiders sold $18.2 million net over the past 90 days. Chairman and CEO Christophe Beck sold nearly $5.6 million in stock on February 24. JP Morgan Asset Management added 3.3 million shares in Q1, lifting its stake to 2.66% of shares outstanding. Vanguard, BlackRock, and State Street all increased positions modestly in the quarter.
Ecolab last reported earnings on February 10. Prior prints occurred in October and July 2025 and April 2025. The stock has traded in a narrow range since mid-February, oscillating between $260 and $310.
No active ORTEX Alpha signals.
See the live data behind this article on ORTEX.
Open ECL on ORTEX →ORTEX Market Intelligence content is generated by AI from a snapshot of ORTEX's proprietary data. Content is informational only and does not constitute investment advice.
